Reasons for Designation
Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most
examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.
Despite part excavation between 1938 and 1942, the barrow will retain further
burials and other archaeological deposits relating to the period of its
construction. Further information on the earlier settlement will also survive.
Details
The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated 280m south of Bank
House and Westgate Farm.
The barrow mound survives to a height of about 2.5m and has an overall
diameter of nearly 20m.
The barrow was partly excavated between 1938 and 1942 by B W J Kent and H J
Strickland, who found evidence of the original ground level beneath the barrow
mound, which contained many burnt cobbles, flints, a polished greenstone axe
and sherds of Ebbsfleet, Mortlake, Ringo-Clacton and Beaker ware pottery.
The remains of six interments were found within the barrow, and included a
male inhumation in the central interment, lying at the south west of the grave
with a boulder at the other end, together with the interment of a female at
the lower end of the grave, found with a bone pin, a flint knife and flint
flakes. In addition to these were found a child burial, the remains of a
foetus covered by a small cairn near the east side of the grave, which had
been covered with a turf mound. A further child burial was found and secondary
cremations were recovered within the barrow mound, one of them with an
overhanging rim urn. There was no evidence of a ditch.
The monument appeared to have been built over part of a Neolithic settlement,
material from which was found included in the dry stone revetment of the
barrow.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.